Researchers from Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute will present research discoveries and outcomes from clinical trials in cancer at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, held May 29 – June 2, in Chicago 

 

ASCO brings together leading experts in clinical oncology to share the latest breakthroughs in cancer research, science and medicine. Presentations from Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute investigators include a study evaluating the outcomes of patients admitted to a dedicated oncology service within a multisite home hospital program; the results of a late-breaking plenary session on prostate cancer; efficacy and safety of a lung cancer drug; the efficacy of an app to support the psychosocial needs of patients with multiple myeloma; the creation of an electronic frailty index to inform risk ahead of CAR-T cell therapy treatments, and more.  

Below are a few highlights from this year’s presentations. All times are Central Time (CT). 

A new peer-reviewed review in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living finds that bicycling is a highly effective, accessible way to improve brain health and overall well-being. Drawing on 87 studies across 19 countries, researchers from Outride, the University of Oklahoma, and Loma Linda University show that cycling delivers consistent psychological, cognitive, and social benefits.

Key findings highlight that cycling can boost mood, reduce stress, strengthen social connections, and enhance cognitive functions like attention and reaction time. Moderate-intensity riding appears most beneficial for brain performance, while very intense effort may temporarily reduce cognitive gains. Outdoor and repeated cycling programs showed the most consistent postitive impact.

The study positions bicycling as a scalable, low-cost solution to address rising mental health challenges and low physical activity levels. It also identifies research gaps among youth, older adults, and underserved populations.

Overall, the findings reinforce cycling’s value beyond physical health, supporting emotional regulation, social belonging, and cognitive performance, and underscore the importance of expanding access through community programs and partnerships.

Michael Koob, PhD, and his team from University of Minnesota Medical School have been selected to join the Collaborative Research Network (CRN)External link that opens in the same window, an international, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional network working to address high-priority research questions about Parkinson's disease, through a $6 million grant awarded by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP)External link that opens in the same window, in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF)External link that opens in the same window. 

A new preclinical study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine has uncovered genetic and cell-state adaptive mechanisms that drive resistance to KRAS inhibitors in patients with KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer. These findings suggest that targeting early inflammatory responses by adding TBK1 blockade with KRAS inhibition may be a promising combination strategy to overcome treatment resistance.

Physicians at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are calling for updates to a widely used system that grades side effects from cancer treatments, warning that current criteria may misclassify the severity of skin-related toxicities and limit consistency across clinical trials.

In exploring how serotonin affects how people learn and adapt to changes, researchers found that the neurotransmitter helps reduce "belief stickiness" — the tendency to get stuck on an old idea despite new contradicting evidence. According to the researchers, the discovery, detailed in Nature Mental Health, holds important implications for the understanding and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). 

An overabundance of a common DNA repair protein can mimic the effects of a mutation in the BRCA gene — a genetic flaw linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer — even in tumors that test negative for it, according to a new study led by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. The finding raises the possibility of more personalized cancer treatment for patients whose tumors don't carry the genetic mutations doctors typically screen for.